The present invention relates to a device which enables optical fibres/optical fibre ribbons to be organised without coming into direct contact with each other. Optical fibres optical fibre ribbons that mutually intersect in direct contact with each other are liable to influence the information transmitted in the fibres.
It is known to bring several optical fibre cables together in a closed container for reorganising and/or connecting the fibres. Commercially available solutions for sealing the cable transits or lead-throughs of the container include sealing said transits with the aid of shrink hoses placed on the optical fibre cables, or sealing said transits with the aid of self-vulcanising tape wound on the optical fibre cables, said tape being wound around the cable to an appropriate size. One disadvantage with the use of shrink hoses lies in the primary requirement of heat. The hoses must either be heated electrically or with the aid of gas. The former often requires the provision of a power source at the place where the cables are to be connected, while the latter constitutes an explosion hazard. The drawback with self-vulcanising tape is that installation is operator-dependent and that addition material is often required when resealing a used container, such as a connecting box.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,224,199A teaches a connecting box intended for optical fibre cables and comprising a bottom part and a top part which can be joined to the bottom part, wherein the bottom part and the top part each include grooves which face one another when said parts are joined one to the other so as to define channels into which elastic plugs that carry optical fibre cables are inserted. The elastic plugs are slotted, so as to facilitate both fitting and removal of the cables and enable the elastic plugs to be first placed on the optical fibre cables, so that the top part of the box can be connected to its bottom part with the plugs carrying said cables placed in the channels between the box parts. Dismantling of the cable from the box is effected by first separating the top part of the box from its bottom part and then opening the plugs, which is easily done, and removing the plugs from the cables and therewith release the same.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,313,546 teaches the use of an hermetically sealed connection encapsulation intended for optical fibre cables and comprising a bottom part which includes seal-accommodating channels and a lid which is connectable to said bottom part, wherein the seals include holes for accommodating optical fibre cables inserted thereinto. The seals of this solution have also been slotted to facilitate insertion of the cables into the seals prior to fitting the seals into the channels in the bottom part of the encapsulation.
With the intention of facilitating handling of optical fibre cables in a limited or confined space, such as an enclosed space, for instance in a sealed fibre/cable connecting box arrangement for reorganising and/or connecting optical fibres present in said cables, the closed space has been provided with means for guiding and coiling the cables prior to stripping respective cables and mutually separating the enclosed optical fibres in an optical fibre cassette. In addition to organising the cables in said space in an ordered and controllable fashion, the provision of means for guiding and coiling the cables in said confined or limited space also ensures that essentially the same preparation lengths are obtained with respect to the different cables, regardless of the transit or lead through which they have been inserted into said space, while also enabling the bending radii of the optical fibre cables to be monitored.
The object of the present invention is to produce an optical fibre connection cassette which is able to store a large amount of optical fibre surplus and which can facilitate reconnection and reorganisation of the optical fibres on the part of the installation engineer.
This can be achieved with a cassette which includes only one fibre inlet from which there is found only one single filament coiling path which is able to house all fibres, in other words fibres that are to be connected to one another lie organised in one and the same coiling or winding path right up to a possible fibre connecting location.
The invention will now be described in more detail with reference to a preferred embodiment thereof and also with reference to the accompanying drawings.